Hawks go for season sweep of the Wizards

(SportsNetwork.com) - The Atlanta Hawks cracked the 60-win barrier for the first time in franchise history and they'll go for win No. 61 Sunday when they visit the Verizon Center to take on the Washington Wizards.

Atlanta long ago secured the Southeast Division title and homecourt advantage through the Eastern Conference playoffs. They are trying to remain sharp for a long postseason run.

The Wizards are also headed to the playoffs. They are 2 1/2 games behind both the Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors, who share the third spot. A loss on Sunday would peg Washington into the fifth slot.

The Hawks have won four in a row, including Friday 104-80 thrashing of the Charlotte Hornets at Philips Arena.

Mike Muscala shot 8-for-9 and led Atlanta in scoring for the first time in his career with 17 points, as the Hawks clamped down defensively in the second half.

Kyle Korver scored 16 points and Al Horford tallied 15, eight rebounds and three blocks for the Hawks, winners in 14 of their last 16 home games against Charlotte.

"We can feel good about 60 wins, that's a great accomplishment," said Korver.

The Hawks trailed 48-47 at halftime but flipped the script by scoring 15 of the first 20 points following the break. Horford outscored Charlotte 7-5 by himself over the first eight minutes of the third quarter, Jeff Teague added a pair of baskets and the lead was 62-53.

Korver opened the fourth with a deep 3 to extend the lead to 73-60. Muscala made it 14 with a putback slam on a Dennis Schroder miss three minutes later, and the margin never dipped under 14 down the stretch.

Atlanta forward Paul Millsap (shoulder) missed his third straight game. Millsap is expected back before the playoffs. Hawks guard Thabo Sefolosha has been ruled out for the season with a broken fibula and ligament damage suffered during his arrest earlier in the week.

The Hawks finish the season at home against the New York Knicks on Monday, then on the road versus the Chicago Bulls Wednesday.

The Wizards had a four-game winning streak snapped emphatically on Friday with a 117-80 road loss to the Brooklyn Nets.

Bradley Beal totaled 24 points and Marcin Gortat chipped in 21 points and 16 rebounds for Washington. Gortat and Beal combined for all 24 of Washington's points in the third quarter, but the Wizards were only able to get within 75-62 entering the fourth.

The bottom fell out for Washington in the fourth, as the Nets opened the period on a 20-1 spurt. Bojan Bogdanovic, who went 6-of-6 from beyond the arc, capped it with a 3-pointer.

"It was a no show," Wizards head coach Randy Wittman said of his team's performance. "We had no rhyme or reason to what we were doing out there."

Washington rested John Wall for the second consecutive game.

The Hawks will seek a season sweep of the Wizards for the first time since the 2012-13 campaign.